DENVER, Colo.—Jesse Mahoney, CSU’s associate head volleyball coach, has been offered and accepted the head coaching position with the University of Denver. Mahoney spent seven seasons on the Rams bench, including four as Tom Hilbert’s top assistant. This will be his second head coaching job.

“First and foremost, I have loved every moment of my time at Colorado State,” Mahoney said. “I am forever indebted to Tom for bringing me here, and everything he has meant to me. He has been a great role model of how to run a great volleyball program, both on and off the court.

“I have aspired to be a head coach again, and the opportunity to do it in our home state and with a great institution like the University of Denver is special to me. I’m excited for the program to grow, and to be a part of that.”

During his time in Fort Collins, Mahoney served as the recruiting coordinator in addition to working with the blocking schemes and middle blockers.

“Jesse will be sorely missed,” Hilbert said. “He’s been here longer than any other assistant I’ve had, and he’s been a huge asset to our program. He’s really been like a second head coach. There have been areas that I’ve been able to turn over entirely to him.”

The Rams have thrived in blocking under Mahoney, ranking in the top-25 in six of Mahoney’s seven seasons, including the top five four times since 2007. This past year, the Rams were the third-best blocking team in the country, averaging 3.15 blocks per set. Several blockers have earned all-conference status while learning from Mahoney, including Dre Downs, Mekana Barnes, Tessa Nelson and Megan Plourde. Plourde, a 2011 AVCA All-American, led the nation and tied a CSU mark with 1.71 blocks per set.

Off the court, Mahoney put together three recruiting classes ranked in the nation’s top-25 by PrepVolleyball.com, including No. 15 in 2010.

“We had a lot of success prior to Jesse getting here, but we’ve definitely improved in so many ways with him,” Hilbert said. “He’s a great coach, and he has all of the tools—he’s a great recruiter, a great tactician, a great teacher—and we’ll definitely miss Jesse.”

Prior to CSU, Mahoney was the head coach at Fort Hays State from 1999-2004, compiling a record of 107-82, including a 56-12 mark during his final two seasons. His Lady Tigers posted the best record in NCAA Division II competition (31-5) in 2004 and finished the season ranked 11th nationally. At Fort Hays State, Mahoney coached the only three All-Americans in school history.

He has also been an assistant coach at Colorado Christian, head coach of the University of Colorado men’s club team and has coached the 18-under Front Range Volleyball Club team. As a student, he spent four seasons as the starting setter on the CU men’s club team, earning all-tournament honors in 1993 after leading the team to the NIRSA collegiate club national championship.

A native of Boulder, Colo., he received a bachelor's degree in psychology from CU in 1995 and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1999. He is married to the former Gwen McEntyre, and the couple has three children: Macy James, Griffin Mack and Declan Thomas.